Little Deeper Than “The Devil Made Me Do It”

I don’t like to make excuses for who I am or how I do things. I mess up. A lot.

But I don’t like to apologize for my personality either. Since age 9 we’ve all cycled through those thoughts and superfluous statements, of “I don’t like this about me, I’m going to change it.” “I don’t like that I think this way, I’m not going to do it anymore.” And then what happens?

We find ourselves right back where we started. Trying not to be who we are.

I’m not talking about cyclical sin or addiction. I’m not talking about bad habits or reprehensible decisions. This goes a little deeper than “the devil made me do it.” This is more about honoring who God has made us and working within the beautiful framework He has made around us.

I’m reading this fascinating book by Les McKeown called The Synergist. He describes in acute details 4 leadership types he as identified as Visionary, Processor, Operator, and then of course, The Synergist. McKeown speaks truthfully about the good and tricky part about each type. He doesn’t condemn one or say one is better than another. He says it’s just what is is, they are all needed, and there are certain ways they need to respect each other differences in order to move to success.

But the thing we have to realize is this idea is not isolated to the business world. I think we need to stop fighting who God made us. We need to stop thinking the grass is greener over there, that they’re life is so much better than ours so we need to be like them.

Be self aware enough to see God’s handprint on you,

but not so self aware that it turns into self reproach.

Some people like working with me so much they get their nose out of joint when I’m not completely accessible to them. They like the visions and the non traditional way I may push through to get things done. They seem to be drawn to the creativity and conversation. I drive other people absolutely insane because I don’t have a set way of doing things. I don’t have routine. I have to talk through things to wrap my head around them. I feel trapped by policies,procedures, and systems and don’t like the idea of revising any of them. I make them nervous because I look like a pin ball machine to them. They’re never sure where I’m going to bounce next. As McKeown says I’m more than likely to be chasing “the shiny blue bouncing ball” than returning their phone calls or calendar requests.

But whether in a business setting, a church setting, a family setting or whatever, if we can just accept the beauty of how God really did make each and everyone of us unique and beautiful I think some of our angst might dissipate. If we spent more time trying to work together rather than trying to change each other or ourselves we could accomplish a lot more good.

If we accepted the art of God’s creation with in each of us how could life be different?